Pakistani-American physicist Dr Nergis Mavalvala has called for greater investment in scientific research, saying curiosity and access to opportunity are central to discovery and that universities have a responsibility to nurture both. Speaking at Habib University in Karachi on Thursday, Mavalvala, who is dean of the School of Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and a leading figure in the Nobel Prize-winning Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) collaboration, said some of humanity’s most consequential discoveries began with questions that had no immediate practical application. She delivered the 10th Yohsin Lecture, titled “The Joy of Discovery: Curiosity, Science, and the Pivotal Role of Universities,” which drew an estimated 4,000 to 5,000 people to the campus, with long queues forming as students, academics, alumni, and members of the public gathered to hear her speak. During an extended question-and-answer session, she said that “every single person at birth is research-minded,” adding that the reason some people get to pursue research in adulthood comes down to access to opportunity.
Reflecting on humanity’s long fascination with the universe, Mavalvala said the impulse to explore has never depended on an immediate payoff, noting that even pre-human cultures looked up at the sky in part because it was mysterious. She said that a hundred years from now, what will matter about her own field’s work is that it opened a new window into the universe. Mavalvala argued that universities should not be seen merely as institutions for professional training, and that they also have a role in cultivating curiosity, creativity, perseverance, and intellectual freedom among students. She also stressed the importance of public and government funding for science, saying that research has consistently shown that no government investment delivers a greater return than spending on research and science, a point that carries weight in Pakistan, where research budgets remain small relative to the size of the higher education sector.
The lecture followed a two-day visit to Habib University during which Mavalvala met students, faculty, alumni, and members of Pakistan’s scientific and business communities. She held discussions with faculty on nurturing curiosity in classrooms, met science and humanities students from schools across Karachi, and took part in sessions with the Entrepreneurs’ Organization and members of the scientific community. Conversations with the university’s leadership also focused on the role of liberal arts education in developing curiosity and on the importance of teaching and mentorship. Her Karachi visit had earlier been announced by Cedar College as well, which listed a seminar with her on September 23, making the trip one of the more visible engagements between a leading Pakistani-born scientist and the country’s academic institutions in recent months.
Habib University President Wasif Rizvi said the public response to the lecture showed the value of making access to knowledge and leading thinkers more widely available, adding that this level of access had not been attempted in Pakistan before and exists because the community decided it should. He linked the initiative to the university’s philanthropic model, saying its students demonstrate what private philanthropy can achieve in expanding access to higher education. Mavalvala thanked the university’s leadership, board, and donors for building the institution, and said her interactions with its students and alumni had impressed her. The Yohsin Lecture Series is based on the university’s founding philosophy of Yohsin, described by the institution as the thoughtful cultivation of the self, and previous speakers have included Noam Chomsky, Ashis Nandy, Reza Aslan, Azra Raza, and Thomas Blom Hansen. The event ended with a reception on the university’s Central Street, where attendees continued the discussions sparked by the lecture.
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